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CII Scheme Rules

Published Date:

01 June 2012

Last Updated:

29 August 2014

All qualified members will need to complete a minimum of 35
hours' compulsory CPD each year (of which at least 21 hours must be
structured CPD). CII will continue to select a random sample of 10%
of members' records each year to monitor adherence to and
compliance with the scheme rules.

Who needs to complete the CII CPD scheme?

It is a requirement of membership that
all PFS and CII qualified members, whether based in the UK or
outside the UK, comply with the CII CPD scheme. Qualified is
defined as those members entitled to use any of the following
qualification designations and titles:

Financial services:

CertPFS (including those entitled to
use discipline or sector specific suffixes:Paraplanning or
DM)

DipPFS

APFS

FPFS

Chartered Financial Planner.

Insurance:

Cert CII (including those entitled
to use discipline or sector specific suffixes: London Market;
Claims; Health and Protection; MP; MP & ER or Life and
Pensions)

Part-time workers
Members who are working in part-time roles have the same CPD
requirements as those in full-time employment.Members on a career
break, e.g. maternity leave or long-term sickness CPD requirements
are suspended during a career break. Where a CPD record is selected
for validation purposes, the CII will ask for evidence confirming
the break in work.

Retired members
Retired members belonging to the Retired Members' Scheme who are
no longer engaged in any financial services business are not
required to complete CPD. Full details can be found in the CII
Retired Members' Scheme. Partially retired members who perform
consultancy or expert witness roles must comply with the CII CPD
scheme in full.

What does the scheme involve?

The scheme caters for all qualified members, irrespective of
their specialism, discipline or geographical location. It caters
for the fact that development needs vary from individual to
individual. All PFS/CII qualified members, whether based in the UK
or outside the UK, need to:

complete a minimum of 35 hours' compulsory CPD each year of
which at least 21 hours must be structured CPD

This figure of 35 hours is the minimum required by the CII; in
practice, the figure may exceed this as the actual requirement will
be determined by an individual's development needs in any 12-month
period

For an activity to be eligible as CPD it must be a minimum of
30 minutes in duration (a batch of different activities of less
than 30 minutes each undertaken to meet a specific learning outcome
can be combined and recorded together).

Structured CPD is the undertaking of any formal learning
activity designed to meet a specific learning outcome (this is what
an individual is expected to know, understand or do as a result of
his or her learning). An example would be attending a technical
lecture to understand the risk of Exchange Traded Funds.

Structured learning activities include but are not limited to:

studying for an examination

participating in seminars (web-based or in person)

lectures

conferences

workshops

courses and

completing appropriate e-learning.

In a minority of cases, activity might also include educational
reading, where high quality reading material has been produced to
meet the required learning outcome. Unstructured CPD is any
activity an individual considers has met a learning outcome, but
which may not have been specifically designed to meet their
development needs. This might include reading a trade publication
that includes a technical article on a topic for which they have a
development need, which the individual has read as part of their
normal day to day activities, rather than specifically reading this
to meet a specific learning need. See Suitable CPD activities for a
full listing of typical structured and unstructured
activities.

To qualify within the parameters of the scheme, all CPD activity
must address an individual's personal development needs. It is up
to the individual member to determine what these are. The process
by which a development need is met involves four stages:

identifying learning and development needs and planning
activities to address them

carrying out activities to meet these needs

recording the time spent for each activity and maintaining a
verifiable audit trail of these activities

reflecting on the outcomes of the CPD activity (answering the
question: "Did the activity meet my learning needs?").

Notes:

CPD activities should always be measurable, with 'time
spent' being accurately recorded and your reflections
documented.

Verifiable means that, if you are specifically asked by the CII
to substantiate a particular activity undertaken, you can provide
corroborative evidence, e.g. a training provider's certificate of
attendance and the corresponding course syllabus.

You only need to submit your CPD record if the CII requests to
see it. Typically the CII will randomly sample about 10% of
members' records each year to check these have been fully and
correctly completed.